If you’ve seen our previous blog, you’ll know how excited the doctors at Chicago ENT have been with the results of the latest alternative to CPAP for the treatment of sleep apnea - Provent Nasal EPAP.

 

Sleep apnea (or more commonly called snoring) affects over 28 million Americans, and increases an individual’s risk of hypertension, stroke, heart attack, irregular heart rhythm, weight gain and impotence, not to mention daytime sleepiness, decreased mental function and productivity and an increase in the risk of auto accidents!

 

Provent is an FDA-approved device that has been shown - through a number of large-scale clinical studies - to significantly reduce sleep apnea and snoring for a range of patients who have been unable to tolerate and is an alternative treatment than CPAP. As reported by Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times (Health Blog 4/9/12), the Provent device has been in such hot demand of late that the manufacturers – Ventus Medical – have shipped over one million units in the past 12 months.

 

A small, unintrusive adhesive valve placed just inside each nostril allows unrestricted inward airflow, but restricts outward airflow through the nose. This build-up of pressure during expiration helps to splint the collapsible soft tissues of the upper airway open in readiness for the next breath in and thereby reduces the chance of apnea.

The team at Chicago ENT has been hugely encouraged by our own and previously published results of Provent therapy.  However, while effective for a large number of people, Provent is not for everyone. We therefore want to take things one step further, by better defining the group of patients for whom the Provent device works best.

To that end, a first-of-its-kind study is about to be launched at our practice, which aims to assess the relationship between nasal patency (the size of the nasal passages and relative restriction of airflow within them) and the effectiveness of the Provent device.

This study will involve the use of the Provent device nightly for a period of one month, and all devices will be provided free of charge to participants.

 

Suitable candidates for this study should be over 18 years of age, have an existing diagnosis of sleep apnea with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of between 15 and 60 events per hour, and have failed treatment of their sleep apnea by CPAP*.

Identifying the specific group of patients who benefit most from Provent, will assist us (and other physicians) in providing the most appropriate and focused treatment for individual patients suffering from sleep apnea and snoring related complaints.